On 11 Jun 2015, at 16:42, Ben Coman <btc@openInWorld.com> wrote:
On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 2:55 PM, Torsten Bergmann <astares@gmx.de <mailto:astares@gmx.de>> wrote:
Hi,
maybe you already noticed. The latest update for Pharo 5 which is 50103 (see [1]). includes a new tool called "Catalog Browser".
Where to go ===========
You will find it under "Tools" -> "Catalog Browser" and it will display the configs together with the catalog metadata like project description.
The code is managed with a configuration similar to what we have for a few other packages/projects. The tool was written by Esteban Lorenzano with small improvements like spotter integration from my side. Feel free to contribute more features.
The repository can be found on SmalltalkHub [2].
This new tool basically gives you access to all available configurations aggregated at [3]. You can use a small UI to search and load the configs (see world menu -> "Tools" -> "Catalog Browser".
But you can also use Spotter to load a config.
Example on how to load ScriptManager config: ============================================ - open Spotter (SHIFT + ENTER on Windows, ...) - type in "Script" and you will find a spotter category "Catalog Projects" with "ScriptManager" in it - just hit enter and the config is loaded
Just had a quick try. Its nice to get descriptions, like for "TaskIT". However I think there should be a confirmation dialog before actually loading a Configuration, which is a potentially destructive/undoable action. Its too easy that habits pressing <enter> for other functions assert themselves and load a configuration accidentally. Perhaps an alternative is to open a window with more information from the other fields of the catalog that has a button to load the Configuration.
Same for all others, so try with "Seaside", "MongoTalk", ...
In the short/mid-term this new tool should replace the existing config browser as it gives more informations about the projects.
I don't think its a total replacement for the Configuration Browser. The new function suits the case of searching for a configuration you already know about, bu tmany times I like catalog browsers when I'm not searching for something. That is, when I don't know what is there and I'm *browsing*. Indeed, if you are searching for a particular configuration then you probably already know what it is and the additional info is then not needed.
But is a superset. We do not want to keep two tools with same functionality (we already did this a lot in the past, but we are like alcoholics in recovery now⦠:P) Esteban ps: when you already know what you want, most probably you just load through a command line (or a script)⦠at least thatâs what I do :)
cheers -ben
What to do next: ================ - give feedback - we should update all our configs with catalog descriptions - it would be nice if the spotter integration would include also a preview of the project description - ...
If you want to contribute just tell Esteban so he can add you to the project.
Thanks Esteban & Torsten
[1] http://lists.pharo.org/pipermail/pharo-dev_lists.pharo.org/2015-June/110964.... [2] http://www.smalltalkhub.com/#!/~estebanlm/CatalogBrowser [3] http://catalog.pharo.org/catalog/json